wa ti-nggewe ti-wesa ti-nisi i-ye aindi kapala.
and they-carry they-go they-boil it-lie their house
and carry it and go cook it at their house.

Aito aindi ekapakolapa asowa to, aito ti-ani ti-mi kapala lalo.
them.few their girls.boys spouse with them.few they-eat they-dwell house inside
They and their children and spouses, they eat [it] in their houses.

Wa i ewesika kikiya, inami kulakula bamo ano-ma.
and us women black our work big true-ly
But us black women, we have a lot of work.

Ika wa-nggo na-nggo tuwatuwa ditako su inami kulakula bani na.
so I-say I’ll-say story a.little on our work food of
So I want to talk a little bit about our food work.

Ikana inggo i ma-wasa ma-mi uma,
so when us we-go we-dwell garden
So, when we go to the garden,

ma-pai kulakula ka na-nggo:
we-do work as I’ll-say
we do work like the following:

Tako, ma-nggewe su // ma-waya su wali ma-nggewe ma-ma su teteu.
okay, we-carry to // we-wrap in netbag we-carry we-come to village
Okay, we carry them to // we put them in netbags and carry them back to the village.

tako, ina-ki lawa lomosanga na wa lawa ina-lapa na.
okay they-set people rinsing of and people they-beat of
okay, they’ll set people for rinsing and people to pound.

Lawa lomosanga na ata ina-nggewe aindi kundu kapole wa nomba gabagaba ina-wasa ina-ki su tina.
people rinsing of later they-carry their sago stalk and thing various they-go they-put to river
The people for rinsing will then carry their sago stalks and things over to the river.

Lawa wanginda na, ewesika teulu, tamota teulu, ata ina-lapa.
people pounders of women part men part later they-beat
The pounder people, part women, part men, will then pound.

Wa ewesika teulu ina-ambi kundu ulasa ni-wesa su tina.
and women part they-take sago pulp it-go to river
And part of the women will take the sago pulp over to the river.

Go ta, lawa lomosanga na ina-lomosa.
after that people rinsing of they-rinse
Whereupon, the rinsing people will rinse it.

Wanginda na lawa, wa ina-yatingi kundu ni-wesa tina na ena lawa, ai ina-pai beleya,
pounder its people and they-transport sago it-go river of its people them they-do no.more
The pounder people, and who transport the sago to the river, those people, they’ll finish,

tako, ina-wasa su teteu,
okay they-go to village
okay, they’ll go to the village

ina-walanga ata.
they-release self
and relax.

Wa, ai lawa lomosanga na, ai ina-pai kulakula ka ina-mi.
and them people rinsing of them they-do work like they-dwell
And, those rinsing people, they’ll keep right on working.

Ina-lomosa ka ina-mi inggo ina-yanggo
they-rinse like they-dwell Say they-see
They keep on rinsing until they see

ena baloga ina-bada de ai.
its crust they-distribute to them
its mantle, they’ll distribute to them.

Wa kundu ano, ai ina-nggewe ni-wesa su kapala
and sago essence them they-carry it-go to house
And the sago starch, they’ll carry to the house

go ta, tako, ina-bada de lawa [manu ti-pai kulakula ], ewesika, tamota, lawa [manu ti-lapa wanginda na].
after that okay they-distribute to people Wh they-do work women men people Wh they-beat pounder Rel
then, okay, they’ll distribute it to the people who did the work, women, men, people who wielded the pounders.

Ina-bada de ai ni-wesa beleya.
they-distribute to them it-go no.more
They’ll finish distributing it to them.

Like most languages, Numbami has a class of ideophones, words whose sounds give a vivid sense of how speakers feel the sounds, shapes, movement, or mood of the world around them. But Numbami may be unique in having a special marker for such words, a suffix –a(n)dala, which is clearly related to the noun andalowa ‘path, way, road’—probably from andala ‘path’ + awa ‘opening’. (Words of similar shape and meaning can be found in many Austronesian languages, including Malay jalan and Hawaiian ala, both meaning ‘path, road’.)

Jabêm also has many ideophones, but they don’t have their own marker as they do in Numbami. Instead, they’re marked just like other adverbs. Shorter ones are followed by tageŋ ‘once’, longer ones by geŋ ‘-ly’, and really long ones by nothing at all, as in the following examples.

This story was published in the Jabêm school Buku Sêsamŋa II [Book for Reading, 2d. ed.], edited by M. Lechner and Nêdeclabu Male (Madang: Lutheran Mission Press, 1955), pp. 99–100. I have inserted hyphens between stems and affixes and supplied the English (and Tok Pisin) glosses and free translation.

Lau Nombaŋ samob sê-pi nêŋ malac
People Numbami all ol-ascend their village
The Numbami all went up to their village

ma sê-êc bêc acgom,
and ol-lie night first
and lay down for the night first,

go êsêac lau Kuwi to Buso ma Lababia sê-wa êsêac auc kê-tôm nêŋ andu
then ol people K. with B. and L. ol-sit ol closed ol-match their house
then the Kuwi and Buso and Lababia people surrounded each house